|
The integral omnipresence of a unity numerically identical is
in fact universally received; for all men instinctively affirm
the god in each of us to be one, the same in all. It would be
taken as certain if no one asked How or sought to bring the
conviction to the test of reasoning; with this effective in their
thought, men would be at rest, finding their stay in that oneness
and identity, so that nothing would wrench them from this unity.
This principle, indeed, is the most solidly established of all,
proclaimed by our very souls; we do not piece it up item by item,
but find it within beforehand; it precedes even the principle by
which we affirm unquestionably that all things seek their good;
for this universal quest of good depends on the fact that all aim
at unity and possess unity and that universally effort is towards
unity.
Now this unity in going forth, so far as it may, towards the
Other Order must become manifest as multiplicity and in some
sense become multiple; but the primal nature and the appetition
of the good, which is appetition of unity, lead back to what is
authentically one; to this every form of Being is urged in a
movement towards its own reality. For the good to every nature
possessing unity is to be self-belonging, to be itself, and that
means to be a unity.
In virtue of that unity the Good may be regarded as truly
inherent. Hence the Good is not to be sought outside; it could
not have fallen outside of what is; it cannot possibly be found
in non-Being; within Being the Good must lie, since it is never a
non-Being.
If that Good has Being and is within the realm of Being, then it
is present, self-contained, in everything: we, therefore, need
not look outside of Being; we are in it; yet that Good is not
exclusively ours: therefore all beings are one.
|
|